Saturday, July 5, 2014

We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

In this short novel author E. Lockhart presents us with the case of Cady, a 17-year-old girl who's recovering from a traumatic accident that took place two years previously and left her with amnesia about the entire summer in which it occurred. The book pivots between the present day and the snippets of memory that come back to her as she returns to her wealthy family's vacation home on an island owned by her grandfather. During the four weeks that she is going to be on the island, will she be able to find the clues to help her remember what happened that summer?

Cady spends time with her mother and two aunts, assorted cousins and golden retrievers, and her grandfather. Unacknowledged tensions hover over everyone, but slowly Cady begins to remember disparate things that happened and led up to her accident and memory loss. She rekindles her romance from that summer, and prods her favorite cousins into giving her clues to the past. As the facts emerge it begins to be clear why she blocked those memories out.

This is a book about friendship, love, and families, and will appeal to a wide audience.